Amnesia: The Dark Descent or Penumbra: The Black Plague?

[Lleviathyn]

Amnesia is definitely scarier. However, the puzzles+mechanics in Penumbra were absolutely superb.

Storywise, I enjoyed both.

[Googolplex]

Amnesia is definitely scarier....

You have to play Penumbra with "Pitch-Black" patch!
I think both games are on an equal level of scarieness, sometimes Penumbra and sometimes Amnesia is scarier. But overall they are both almost equal.

[Zannibal]

Hard question, but I kind of find Penumbra scarier.

As mentioned here, the setting is a bit more believable. I mean we've all been in hospitals and Black Plague's place looks kinda like one. It's a place that feels real and.. I don't know, it just is more scary. Also, the enemy in BP is scarier than Amnesia. Hell, they even have flashlights. Penumbra also has this total-darkness. There's no ambient light like in Amnesia, it's total pitch darkness if you run out of light. Not as realistic as Amnesia, but doesn't make it any more comfortable

Then again, Amnesia has sanity system, which makes it a bit scarier. But then again, Amnesia's graphic style is more cartoonish, so it's a bit less realistic and all.

Hell, really hard one, but I guess I'll go with Penumbra, even though Amnesia managed to scare me like nothing before.

[Cuyir]

My favorite Frictional games game has always been Black Plague. Overture was sort of disappointing and while Amnesia: The Dark Descent did many many many things well it sort of petered out towards the end.

Black Plague also made me feel a connection to Amabel, Clarence and Red while in Amnesia you were alone alone. Clarence gave the game a nice little wrinkle too. Plus I found Penumbra's world more interesting than Amnesia's.

[Gunslingerjh]

Penumbra for sure! I liked the underground/arctic setting more than Amnesia's. When examining an object, the players thoughts are shown to us gamers. The story/storytelling was much better/more realistic, the soundtrack of Penumbra is one of the greatest i've ever heard in a horror game..

I just felt really connected to Philip throughout the Penumbra games. I didn't like the character of Daniel in Amnesia..

But in terms of graphics/mechanics, Amnesia is ofcourse the winner!

[i3670]

The only problem I had with BP and Overture was the save system.

[Nyarlathotep]

Overall I think Amnesia is a better game. It's a more polished experience that really made some good design choices, in deciding to back away from moments that frustrate the player.

I love the Penumbra trilogy, and played it well before Amnesia. But they're definitely rough around the edges. There are spots in each game where I'd get stuck on a puzzle or at a sequence where I'd die over and over. Definitely an immersion killer.

I do like Penumbra's story just a bit more though. The ending to Black Plague was amazing.

[sapo2]

I like Penumbra cause it's more futuristic.

[Gharren]

Based on game mechanic and graphics, Amnesia was the better game.
But I liked the setting and atmosphere of Penumbra more. It had a more realistic scenario, not that rather fantasy-like medieval setting in Amnesia.

[Googolplex]

There are spots in each game where I'd get stuck on a puzzle or at a sequence where I'd die over and over. Definitely an immersion killer.

That improved the immersion for me.

I do like Penumbra's story just a bit more though. The ending to Black Plague was amazing.

The ending of Black Plague was bad. I know, it should be something "intellectual", but it was strange and not really credible like it felt in Overture.